Latin America

• Tuesday, August 18th 2020 - 09:09 UTC

  The US pledges US$ 5bn to Colombia for rural development; Duque supports US candidate for IDB

  

  The United States and Colombia will work together to bring new investment to rural areas of the country, officials said on Monday, as Colombia's president reiterated support for the U.S. candidate to lead the Inter-American Development Bank.

• Tuesday, August 18th 2020 - 09:06 UTC

  Mexican corruption in Congress exposed with piles of cash changing hands

  

  An unverified video showing piles of cash being handed to Mexican congressional staffers went viral on Monday, fuelling a corruption scandal that is already convulsing the country even as the clip's source and context remain unclear.

• Tuesday, August 18th 2020 - 08:52 UTC

  Peruvian economy contracts 18,06% in June year to year

  

  Peru’s economy contracted 18.06% in June versus the same period a year earlier, the government of president Martin Vizcarra said on Sunday, the fourth straight month of contraction due to the impact of the novel coronavirus pandemic.

• Monday, August 17th 2020 - 09:53 UTC

  Latin America coronavirus cases exceed six million and continue to accelerate

  

  Coronavirus cases in Latin America, the region of the world worst-affected by the pandemic, exceed six million and continued to accelerate, according to the WHO figures, as most of its nations begin to relax lockdown measures.

• Monday, August 17th 2020 - 09:12 UTC

  Mexico besides AstraZeneca is also working with French, US and Chinese labs for a Covid-19 vaccine

  

  Mexico will need up to 200 million coronavirus vaccine doses, according to a senior government official, and inoculation of its 120 million inhabitants could start as early as April if clinical trials and regulatory approvals for pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca go as planned.

• Monday, August 17th 2020 - 08:21 UTC

  Mexican president says economy recovering jobs

  

  Mexico added back 52,455 jobs in August, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said on Saturday, hailing the news as a sign of recovery after the country lost more than 1 million jobs in the formal economy due to the coronavirus pandemic.

• Saturday, August 15th 2020 - 09:52 UTC

  Health care workers in Peru protest demanding better pay and working conditions

  

  Health care workers in Peru held a demonstration demanding better pay and working conditions as more of their colleagues become infected with the coronavirus. Members of medical workers’ unions appealed for government help during a rally outside the Health Ministry.

• Saturday, August 15th 2020 - 09:21 UTC

  US extends ban on border crossing with Canada and Mexico until September 21

  

  The US Department of Homeland Security said on Friday that a COVID-19 ban on non-essential travel through border crossings with Canada and Mexico was being extended until Sep 21.

• Saturday, August 15th 2020 - 08:06 UTC

  Latin America must reject Trump’s attempt to leave his mark on the IDB

  

  By Christopher Sabatini (*) The Trump administration’s intemperate, partisan crusade against international institutions has extended to the Western Hemisphere’s most important multilateral bank.

• Friday, August 14th 2020 - 10:53 UTC

  Ecuadorean popular ex president under house arrest

  

  A judge in Ecuador on Thursday placed former president Abdala Bucaram under house arrest over his alleged involvement in a corruption scandal blamed in the murder of an Israeli prison inmate, the public prosecutor said.